The Kingmaker

Zenia Avenia

Description:

Zenia Avenia was born in the year 4583 AR (Absolom Reckoning) to the Woodland High Elven parents of Ver/mil (“peace”/“bond, promise”) and Si/vanna (“cat”/“forest”) Avenia in the outpost town/fortress of Nyrkisla located far east of the Brevory border. The area she grew up in was well forested and it quickly became apparent to both parents that their daughter had a great affinity for nature and Her many wondrous creature who inhabit Her cloak of life. As a young elven girl, Zenia would spend hours at a time tracking and observing the wild animals of the area often unnoticed much to her delight. She would tell her parents tales of what each creature she tracked did for the day in incredible detail. Since she was a ranger herself, Sivanna soon took their daughter under her wing and taught her archery, tracking, foraging, and most of all a respect of nature parallel to none among other abilities innate to her profession. Zenia proved to be a responsive and astute student over the years making both her parents proud. While a majority of Zenia’s upbringing and education came form the instruction of her mother, her father did have an influence on her as well.

Ever the diplomat and explorer, Vermil had convinced his king at the time into allowing his family and a small contingent of elven folk to set up the joint venture that was Nyrkisla. The king knew Vermil had a good rapoire with his dwarven and human counterparts so he backed his idea in order to increase trade and knowledge of his people. Vermil’s abilities to work willingly with various races allowed this remote, outpost town to become a unique setting that consisted of many different races trading and working together for the common benefit of all. Along with the more common races of high elves, humans and dwarves, this outpost also consisted of more exotic peoples including Undines, Ratfolk, Aasimars, Catfolk and Kitsune to name a few. The experiment proved successful and unparelled in its time with trade flourishing and the exchange of ideas and knowledge in great abundance. It’s within this setting that Vermil taught his daughter teamwork, compromise, languages, letter writing, and various faucets that go into the art of diplomacy to get things done.

Zenia made friends among the other races and learned what she could from each of them. Because of her exposure to this unique environment and her own sense of self, she ended up making some close friends among the many races. She came to understand each race has its bad and good apples, and to understand most races and professions have their unique knowledge and abilities they bring to any quest or venture; that in some cases one may be better suited for on task but ill suited to another. This attitude along with her teachings of Nature brought about a neutral personality which made her trustworthy and fair in many of her peers’ proceedings when she was growing up and well into her young life. It would be this personality trait more than any other that would save her and her friends from the nightmare that eventually descended upon this flourishing outpost-forest.

The down fall of Nykisla oddly enough with its makeup of races did not come from within, but from without. Nykisla had a well integrated army consisting of the many races and professions from the town under the guidance of a well represented council and, at the time, a respected elected (human) ruler of sorts. Unfortunately not all manner of creature have it in themselves to live in relative peace (Nyrkisla was not a perfect utopia) with others. In this case, a powerful sorcerer (race unknown) riding atop what appeared to be an ice dragon and commanding a legion of ice beings attacked the city/fortress. No one knew what to make of these cold humanoid creatures. Nyrkisla’s army and citizens fought valently but with communication cutoff thanks to the surrounding army, defeat became a matter of time. With this in mind, the elders of the races did their best to use their knowledge of the forests and surrounding area to sneak many of their citizens out of the city and to their homelands.

The rangers & druids who knew these areas well (Zenia included) were able to evacuate many of the young and the old out while the able bodied fought off the ice army for time. In the end a fourth of the population was saved. The city and the fortress that was Nyrkisla was eventually destroyed and all its combined knowledge and wealth taken or obliterated. Thankfully Zenia’s parents made it out with her. Due to the distance involved with returning to their own citizenry in the winter months and because Vermil was a fair and well liked diplomat, the Avenias were invited to stay with catfolk for a time. They did so in thankfulness and eventually became a part of their citizenry.

Zenia though longed for adventure and to see what the west side of the world was like so when she became of young age, she set out to see the lands for herself. After a time on her own, she had the pleasure of meeting a group of individuals she would soon call her close friends and, to her way of thinking, her family.